


Nowhere To Hide

by Nic_James



Series: Horror Edits [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Character Death, F/F, Femslash, Horror, Injury, Survival, Thriller, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 17:04:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20660693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nic_James/pseuds/Nic_James
Summary: VACANCY (2007) AUMarried couple Emma and Regina are on their way home from a family party when their car breaks down on the side of the road. They end up staying in a Motel in the middle of nowhere. Soon they realise if they don't escape they won't survive the night. (No magic)





	Nowhere To Hide

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy

**EPOV:**

The radio, that’s the only sound that’s filled this car for the last 3 hours. 10 years of marriage and my wife won’t even speak to me when we’re a foot apart. In her defense Regina has been in and out of sleep for the past couple of hours, but it’s not just tonight, our marriage hasn’t been the same since that night. The night we lost our son Henry. 

“Where are we?” Regina mumbles. 

I look at the desolate road ahead of me and tiredly rub at my face. “Road closures. I had to take a different route.” 

“To where?” She frowns. 

“Don’t worry, it shouldn’t add more than an hour to our journey.” I tell her rubbing at my eyes again. 

“You want me to drive?” Regina asks. “Last thing I was is to end up in a ditch.” 

“No. You can get some more rest if you want, it’s been a long few days.” This weekend was my parents anniversary party and Regina decided we should drive up to Maine for it. Usually we avoid social engagements, but I don’t think she really wanted any of my family to know we’ve been having problems, my mother can be a tad dramatic and she’d lose her mind to know that we were heading towards separation. 

Regina scoffs before taking out an apple from her bag and begins to cut off slices. “I’d rather not. I was having a bad dream before.” 

“What about?” I ask. This is the most she’s spoken to me all weekend, I’ll keep it going for as long as I can. 

Regina turns to me and raises a brow. “You were trying to kill me.”

“Oh.” 

“We were at you parents and you decided you’d had enough of everything, then proceeded to strangle me.” She says before popping an apple slice into her mouth. 

“Huh…well at least you were dreaming about me.” I grin. 

“Yeah it was a real…shit.” Regina hisses when we hit a pothole, causing her to slice her finger open. 

“You okay?”

“Mhm.” She nods sucking the blood from her finger. 

“You know you can buy packets pre-cut.” I tell her while looking down at her now bloody apple. “Would save you almost cutting your finger off.” 

“I prefer it fresh.” Regina huffs and places the ruined apple on the dashboard. 

I look out to the open road and remember the last time I was on a road trip this long. “Hey, you remember when Henry…”

“I’m tired Emma.” Regina says cutting me off. 

“Okay then.” I try the radio but all I get back is static. Now there’s no choice but to fill the car with uncomfortable silence. 

“Where the hell are we? There’s no sighs anywhere.” 

“We should be here.” I say pointing down towards the map I have opened on my lap. 

“Jesus Christ.” She groans. “Couldn’t you have found a better way?” 

“No, I decided to make this journey home as miserable as possible on purpose.” I snap giving back some attitude. Regina shakes her head and looks out the window. “I’m sorry, I just thought it would be faster.” 

Regina shrugs. “Maybe we’ll see a sign soon.” 

“I hope so.” Although I love spending time with Regina, this isn’t where I want to do it. We’re tired and fed up, a perfect mixture for an argument. We sit in silence for a few minutes, the pair of us huffing and sighing. I try to think of something to say that might put her in a better mood but before I can a noise comes from under the car. 

“What was that?” Regina asks with wide eyes as the car stutters. 

“Nothing.” I say and give the wheel a tap. “Come on baby, don’t do this to me.” I whisper

“Emma.” 

More noises erupt from the car before some smoke begins to come from the under the hood. “Fuck.” My car splutters a few more times before coming to a slow stop, thankfully I manage to steer it off the road before that happens. “Fuck.” 

“This is why I said bring my car.” She groans. “You really need to let go of this yellow piece of junk.” 

Too far. “It’s usually reliable Regina, you love this car.” I try to start the engine again but there’s nothing. 

“Now what.” She asks. 

“Give me a minute.” I hop out the car and open the hood. “Fuck, fuck.” I whisper as more smoke blows into my face. I don’t know how to fix this. 

“Well?” 

“We’re fucked.” I admit. I think being honest right off the bat might make her less angry in the long run.

“Fuck.” She sighs. 

I close the hood and lean down to look through the window. “There is some good news though.” Regina turns her head towards me and just raises a brow. “Before you woke up we passed a gas station, just a couple miles back.”

She closes her eyes as a small whine builds. “That’s good news? I’ve got to walk two miles.” 

“You could wait here, and I’ll walk down there.” 

“I’m not staying out here alone Emma.” Regina says looking around the wooded area.

“Scaredy-cat.” I tease.

I can see a small grin pull at her lips. “Shut up.” 

We grab a few things from the car and start our walk down the dark road towards hopefully some help. Regina struts ahead of my in her heeled boots as I take a more leisurely pace, looking up at the clear skies above me. “It’s beautiful out here.” I grin. “You don’t get this type of view of the stars in Boston.” 

“Yeah.” Is all she says. 

“Henry would’ve loved it.” I say still looking up at the shining stars. 

“We should’ve brought him sometime, but the job was always to important.” Regina says with a tight voice. 

“Why do you always do that Regina?” 

“Do what?”

“Snap at me whenever I bring him up.”

Regina stops and looks over her shoulder at me. “Stop bringing him up then Emma.” 

“Well I’m not like you. I enjoy talking about our son and dealing with the pain instead of forgetting he even existed.” I snap back. 

Regina scoffs at me before storming ahead. “Do what you want Emma.”

I come to a stop and watch as Regina walks away from me. “Fuck sake Emma. Will you ever learn to keep your fucking mouth shut.” I growl to myself and kick at the dirt. The last thing I want is to hurt Regina, but it seems like it’s the only thing we do it each other now. Losing Henry last year destroyed me, but I don’t think I’d survive it if I lost her too.

For the rest of the walk we’re in complete silence. I feel relief flow through me when I gas station comes into view. I walk up to the gas station to look through the window, but it’s empty and dark. “You didn’t say this was here.” Regina says.

“What?” I ask turning away from the window. I look to where she’s pointing and see a motel sign behind some bushes. “I didn’t even spot it.” I laugh looking up at the sign. The Storybrooke motel, how cheery. 

“Let’s just go back to the car.” Regina says. “You can sleep on the hood and watch the stars.”

“They might be able to call someone for us. Come on.” I pull her towards the motel. We walk up to the motel and see a sign for the reception. I hold the door open for Regina and as soon as we step inside the sound of a woman screaming greets us. 

Regina spins towards me with wide eyes. “What the hell is that.” She whispers backing away. “Come on.” She says tugging me towards the door.

“Easy.” I whisper back walking towards the desk as the pants and screams get louder. I look around the office and instantly the drab orange room and dusty décor makes me uncomfortable. 

“Emma no.” She huffs as I reach out for the bell on the desk.

I shove her hands off me and tap the bell. “Excuse me.” I call out tapping the bell. 

I see a shadow move behind the door and soon a man in a suit comes walking out balancing on a cane. “Good evening, how may I help you?” He asks. 

“Everything okay back there?” I say pointing to his office where the screaming is coming from. 

More screaming comes from outside the door and the man laughs before heading back there. He turns it off and comes out with the remote. “Sorry about that. Things can get a little lonely around here some nights.” He says while looking at Regina. 

“I’ll bet.” I nod. “Listen do you have the number for the mechanic that works at that gas station, our car broke down a couple miles up the road.” 

“That’s Neal. He will have gone home for the night, be back tomorrow morning.” He nods.

“Anyway you can get in touch with him?”

He shakes his head. “I’m afraid not. I’m sorry.”

“What about any other garages?” Regina asks.

“You’ve got Whales, about 20 miles east.” He says pointing out the window. “But it is late, most places wont be open.” 

“That’s great.” Regina groans. 

“But like I said Neal should be back in the morning around 8, until then I’m wide open.” He smiles.

I look to Regina and she looks around the reception, definitely not the place she’d pick to stay but it’s better than the car. “Yeah we’ll stay here.”

“Jesus Christ.” I hear Regina mutter. 

“Fantastic.” He claps setting his cane down and grabbing the guest ledger. “How many rooms?”

I look to Regina who give me a pleading look. “Just one room please.” I say fighting a smirk. 

“Lovely.” He hobbles back and grabs a key. “I’ll give you the honeymoon suit, it’s our best room and I’ll give it to you for the average price.”

“Great.” I nod pulling out my card.

“Oh no dearie. We’re not set up for card here.” 

“Of course not.” I dig through my pockets and pull out some cash. 

“And I’m going to need some I.D from one of you, think of it as a despot.” 

“Really?” I ask. 

He nods. “Those are the rules I’m afraid.” I hand him my driver’s licence and give Regina the key. “Okay ladies you’re all set. It’s the door on the corner, number 4. If you have any problems please come see me, my names Mr Gold.” He grins. 

“Thank you Mr Gold.” I smile and head out the office with Regina. 

“I hate this.” Regina says as soon as we get outside.

We get to number 4 and open it up to a pitch-black room. Regina flips on the lights and the dark beige colours are everywhere, along with a few odd stains on the grey carpet. “Well this is nice.” I say closing the door and sliding the latch across. 

“It’s a shithole.” Regina says turning her nose up at the room and walking into the bathroom.

“It’ll do for tonight.” I call out, even though I’m feeling my own skin crawl at the thought of laying down on that bed. 

Regina comes out the bathroom and takes her own jacket off. “The tap water is brown by the way.” 

“Nice.” I gag. “I saw a vending machine at the end, I’ll grab a few bottles of water soon.” 

She walks over to the bed and pulls back the covers. “I’m sleeping in my clothes.” She says while inspecting the sheets. 

“Think I’ll sleep in my boots.” I joke walking over to the bed and sitting down. I look down at my watch and see it’s **2:23** “We should try and get some sleep, the mechanic will be here five hours.” 

“I don’t know if I can in here.” 

“Oh come on, we’ve slept in worse places. Remember our first date.” I grin. 

I see a small blush come across Regina’s cheeks and I get a real smile from her. “I remember you getting us stranded in a field with no way to get home, I had a bad back for a week after sleeping in that yellow monstrosity.” 

“But we made it work.” I shrug turning my body towards hers more. “We kept each other nice and warm.” I wink. “And I seem to remember you enjoying the back rubs I gave to make up for that.”

“Yeah well maybe if…” The phone’s blaring ring stops Regina from what she was saying and makes us both jump. 

“Maybe he’s seeing if we want room service.” I joke while taking my boots off.

“Hello?” Regina answers. “Hello?” I look over my shoulder and see her shrug and put the phone down. “No one there.”

**BANG…BANG…BANG**

“What the hell is that.” I head over to the door and pull it open to find no one there. I step out a bit further but there’s not a soul. “Am I hearing things?” I ask Regina.

“No.” She frowns while sitting up.

As soon as I close the door the phone rings again. I walk over to the phone. “Who is this?” I ask but before I get an answer the banging starts up again, but this time it’s on the adjacent rooms door. 

I walk towards the door. “Emma no.” Regina whispers trying to grab onto my arm. 

The banging continues as I get closer. “Yes?” I call out. The banging now calms down to some gentle knocking. “Can I help you?” I ask. I reach out to open the door to see what the hell they want. 

“Emma don’t.” Regina whispers. 

“It’s coming from next door. I don’t know about you but I sure as hell don’t want this going on all night.” I unlock our door and slowly open it to reveal theirs. 

“Careful.”

The soft knocks continue so I raise my hand and bang right back. “What do you need?” I ask causing them to bang louder. I turn to Regina and see her with a worried look on her face. “When we got here were there any other cars?” I whisper. “Have a look will you.” 

Regina slides off the bed and peaks out the curtain. “No cars out there.” She says walking over to me. “Just that truck at the office, must be that guys.” 

I knock on their door again. “Listen I don’t know what the problem is over there but it’s a little late for this shit. So if you can’t…”

**BANG…BANG…BANG**

The loud banging starts up again but this time the whole door begins to rattle. “Shut the door.” Regina says before running over and slamming our door shut. “Why piss them off.”

“I’m not trying to piss them off I’m trying to find out what they want.” I say just before knocking starts up again on our front door. I sneak over and slide the latch over and look out the peep hole but it’s to dirty. 

I begin to open the door but Regain stops me by slapping my arm. “Don’t you dare.” She whispers. 

“Who is it?” I ask but get no reply. I hold one hand out to Regina and slowly open the door with the latch still on. 

“Anyone there?” Regina whispers.

I shake my head as I look outside. What the hell is going on here. I scan the parking lot once more before banging starts up again. I close our room door before slamming my hands against the adjacent room door. “I don’t know what your problem is but your really starting to piss me off.” I say with one last punch on the door. I walk over to the bed and slide my boots back onto my feet. “I’ve had enough of this.” 

“Should we call the manager?” Regina asks but I just walk over to our door, swing it open and head towards next door.

“HEY.” I shout banging on room 3. “Open the door.” I say slamming my fist into the wood. “We can play some fucking games.” I mumble trying to see through the window, but the room lights are off. Whoever is inside gives two more knocks on the door. “Fuck you.” I say and give the door a kick. “Lock the door.” I tell Regina.

“Where are you going?” She whispers.

“I’m going to go deal with this prick.” I tell her and head to the reception. What an absolute asshole. I bet it’s some drunk hick looking for a good laugh. “Mr Gold.” I call out as soon as I enter the office and tap on the bell a few times. I look out the office windows to make sure no one is hanging around outside our room when I left but it’s still completely dead out there. 

“Can I help you Mrs Swan?” Mr Gold says appearing behind the desk. 

“Yes you can.” I nod walking towards the desk. “There’s some asshole in the room next to us banging on the doors and he won’t stop. I tried to go over and get him to stop but there he goes again banging on the door.”

“The room next to yours?” He asks with a frown. 

“We’re number 4 and next to us is number 3.” I nod looking out the window. 

“Number 3?”

Am I speaking ancient Hebrew or something? “Yeah the room next to us with the big rusty 3 on it. The prick inside won’t shut up and I’m really starting to lose my shit.”

“Well the only reason I ask Mrs Swan is because you two are my only guests.” He shrugs. 

“Well someone’s in there.”

He nods and walks over to the key rack. “Listen, every now and then a few college kids will come through a window, have a few drinks and be gone by morning. They’re usually pretty well behaved.”

“Not tonight.” I scoff. 

Mr Gold holds his hand up in surrender and grabs his cane. “Okay. I’ll go in and have a look.”

“Thank you.” I nod heading for the door. “And if those work I’d bring one.” I say nodding to the guns that are mounted above the door. I make my way across the parking lot and see Regina peeking through our curtain, I give her a nod and see her scurry towards the door. 

Regina opens the door for me and closes it as soon as I’m inside. “What did he say?”

“He thinks it’s just a few college kids, apparently it’s a common occurrence.” I tell her while sliding the latch across. “Anymore noise?”

Regina shakes her head. “Nothing since you went outside.” 

“Probably got spooked when they saw I was telling on them.” I laugh grabbing the TV remote and laying down in the bed, finally feeling my blood pressure come down. 

Regina stands by the side of the bed, wringing her hands together. “Maybe we should just go back to the car.” 

“Come on Regina.” I whine. “You really want to walk another two miles to the car, have a cold and uncomfortable sleep, just to come back here in 4 hours to talk to the mechanic.” I sigh. “Let’s just relax here for a few hours, get the car fixed then I’ll take us home.”

Regina looks around the room with uncertainty on her face but soon nods and lays down on the bed. “Okay, okay.”

“Good.” I switch on the TV but all the pops up on the screen is static. “Come on.” I groan as none of the channels work. 

“Are you really going to watch TV?” Regina asks. 

“What? You know it helps me unwind.” I tell her but she just shakes her head and goes into the bathroom. “And I need to make sure the guy from next door is gone.” 

“You’re sure he’s going to talk to them?” She calls from the bathroom. 

“That’s what he said.” It’s clear none of the channels are going to work so I get up and grab one of the tapes from on top of the TV. Can’t remember the last time I watched anything on VHS. I pop in the tape, flick the switch and the TV lights up with some guy getting choked by another one. 

“Jesus Emma.” Regina says looking at the TV when she re-enters the room. Soon the guy is being hoisted up into a hanging position by two men in the room. “Can you turn that off.”

I take out the tape and put in a different one. This time it opens with a group of women being terrorised in a room by the same two men in masks. There’s one point where a woman is hiding behind some brown curtains with a table and chairs in front of it. I feel a knot form in my stomach as I look over at the exact same curtains in our room…everything in our room is the same. 

“I told you to turn that off.” Regina complains. 

I stand up from where I was kneeling and look down at the carpet below me where one of the women were stabbed. There’s no way that could be here. On the TV a woman screams as she’s thrown onto the same bed that Regina is sat on. “Oh fuck.”

“Emma…what’s wrong?” She asks as I look around the room. 

“Do you see that room on the TV.” I say focusing on the screen again. 

“Yeah.” She draws out. “Oh my god.” I hear Regina jump off the bed. “Is that here?”

“I don’t know.” I take a look at the camera angles and see one is coming from the corner. I hop up onto the bedside table, look through the vent and see a camera staring right back at me. “No, no.” I whisper getting onto the floor, finding the other vent and seeing another camera. “Fuck.”

“Is that this room Emma?” She asks again.

“I think so. There’s cameras all around.” I nod feeling my heart begin to go mad in my chest

“Is this some kind of joke?” Regina asks. “There’s no way this is real…this can’t be real.” Regina takes the tape out and puts another one in. The next video starts off with the same banging we’ve had on our doors while a couple panic. Soon the lights flicker and one of the masked men appears behind them before stabbing the guy. “Oh my god Emma.” Regina cries just before the TV goes off along with all our power. “What happened?” 

I pull Regina close to me just as the banging starts up on our door. “It’s okay.” 

“Emma. They’re coming in.” She cries as that door almost comes off it’s hinges with how hard he’s pounding on it.

“We’re okay.” The banging gets louder and faster as the power goes in and out in our room. I back us away from the door and snatch the lamp off the bedside table while keeping Regina behind me. There’s no way I’m letting her become one of those tapes. All of a sudden the banging stops and the power turns back on. 

The woman on the tape begins to scream again so I go over and turn that fucking TV off. “I’m calling the police.” Regina says while going into her bag and grabbing her phone. “No fucking signal.” She growls. Regina then tries the room phone but that doesn’t work either. 

“We have to get out of here.” I say once I’ve caught my breath. Regina heads for the door but I pull her back. “Wait. There outside Gina, they heard the TV which means they know we know.” 

“Of course they know. That old creep put us in here to watch it.” Regina pants. “He’s part of this.” 

“I know but if they know we watched it then they know we’re scared, they know the   
first thing we’ll try and do is run.” I reason. 

“Well maybe they don’t know we’ll go now.” She says trying to go to the door again. 

I pull her back to me. “Wait…he knows. They’ve planned all of this. We’ll try in here.” I head to the bathroom and pull back the curtain to find it nailed shut. “Fuck.” I pound on the window to try and break through the wood and glass. 

“Emma they’ll hear you.” Regina hisses. “Let’s just sneak out the door.”

“Regina they’re not just going to lets us stroll out the fucking door.” I say before hitting the window again but it’s no use. “Fuck.” I punch it one last time before walking out. “Emma.” I turn around to see Regina looking at something in the bathroom. 

“What.”

“Did you bring this?” I run back over to see her pointing to the apple she was eating in the car is now resting on the sink.

“No.” I say feeling my stomach flip. “Didn’t you bring it from the car?”

“No I bled all over it. I left it in the car.” I take a step closer and see it is the green apple Regina was eating with the blood stain on it. “What the hell is happening.” She cries. 

“I don’t know.” I whisper. 

“How the hell did they get in here?” 

“I don’t know Regina.” I say walking back into the room. “Dim all the lights. We’re not staying in here.”

“I thought you said we couldn’t go.” She says nervously and turns the lights off.

“Well that was before I knew they could get in here.” I peek out the window and see that it’s all clear. “We’ve got to move fast Gina.” I tell her before grabbing her hand and slowly unlatching the door. “You ready?”

Regina squeezes my hand and nods “Ready.” 

I slowly open the door and see no one is out there. I pull her outside and we crouch behind the wall outside our door. “We’re going to run over there.” I whisper pointing to the woods. “Straight for the tree line. Just stay with me.” I pull her out from behind the wall and we begin to run across the parking lot with the stones crunching under our feet. I look around us as we get closer to the trees and still don’t see anyone. 

“Emma.” Regina pants pulling me to a stop. I skid to a stop on the gravel and feel my heart beat out of my chest when a man in a mask comes out of the trees and into the light. “Oh my god.” She whimpers. 

“Come on.” I pull Regina round and we head towards the direction of the office with the sound of him following us. We close in on the office doors before a second man appears behind the owners truck and runs towards us. “Back to the room Gina.” I say pushing my legs as hard as I can. As we approach our room I can still head the two of them behind us, the gravel crunching under their every step. We reach our door and I swing Regina into the room with all my might causing her to tumble onto the floor and slam the door shut just as the pair of them reach it. I press all my body weight up against the door as they bang against it. “Get the bathroom window open.” 

Regina scrambles up from the floor. “But it’s locked.” 

“Just try I beg.” Regina runs off to the bathroom and I look around the room for anything to pin against the door but there’s nothing. Regina comes back with a panicked look on her face. “They’re out there, by the window.”

Fuck. “THIS IS OFFICER EMMA SWAN AND I HAVE A GUN. BACK AWAY.” I scream and all of a sudden the banging stops. I look to Regina and she looks back with some hope on her face. 

**BANG…BANG…BANG…BANG**

“Fuck.” I groan as the door jumps open a couple times. 

“LEAVE US ALONE.” Regina screams causing them to actually stop. I keep myself pressed up against it in case they’re just playing games like last time but after a few moments there’s still nothing. I slowly peel my back off the door and listen out for any noises coming from the other side, but still nothing. “Are they gone?” She asks. 

I look out our window and see nobody hanging about. “For now.” I nod. “But if they want to come in here then they will. We need another way out of here.” I say pacing up and down the room while wiping the sweat from my face. Think Emma, think. 

“Em?” Regina asks. 

“I need to get out to that phone.” I tell her. 

“What?” 

I go over to Regina and take her hand in mine. “The payphone we passed out there. I need to get on it and call the police.” 

“You can’t go out there Emma, please don’t go out there.” She cries. “One of them had a knife.”

“Gina, if we stay here then we’re gonna end up like all those people.” I tell her. “I won’t let that happen to you.” I take Regina’s trembling hands in mine and kiss her knuckles. “Now I need your help okay.” 

“Okay.” She nods and wipes her eyes. 

“Now we know that they’re watching that bathroom window, so I need you to keep their attention on it, just make banging noises as if you’re trying to open it up. That should give me enough time to get to the phone.” I dig in my pocket and pull out all the change I have. “Can you do that?”

“I’ll do it.” She nods.

“Okay. You go now.” I watch as Regina heads into the bathroom and I wait for the banging to start before I slip out of our room. I hide behind the same wall and scan my surroundings, no one is here so I stay low and jog towards the phone box, trying to keep the noise to a minimum. When I reach the phone I throw in all the change I have and dial 911.

_“911 what is your emergency.”_ A man answers.

“This is Officer Swan and I’m in immediate need of assistance. Someone is trying to kill us.” 

_“Where are you located Officer Swan.”_ He asks. 

“The Storybrooke motel, up by the mountains. You need to send help now.” I pant looking around for anyone. 

_“Who is trying to kill you?”_

“I don’t know okay. The creep that runs the place and a couple others. We just need some help, the Storybrooke motel.” I repeat. 

_“Yes Officer Swan. Do you have an address?”_

“No I don’t have an address I’m in the middle of fucking nowhere.” I snap. “Just get someone down here now.”

_“Please calm down Emma, you’ll never survive the night if you lose your head.”_ He laughs as the voice changes to Gold’s. Oh my god. I pull the phone away from my ear and look down at it as I feel nausea wash over me. _“And you shouldn’t be wondering around in the dark by yourself.”_ He says with a giddy voice before car headlights power up in front of me and I have to dive out of the phone box before I’m hit.

“GINA.” I scream and slide across the floor, scratching up my arms before getting to my feet and sprinting for the room. I look over my shoulder to see the car revving up behind me and the masked man driving. I approach our door and thankfully my wife is there opening it up for me and I dive through the door. 

Regina slams it shut before coming to my side as I lay on the floor panting from fear and exhaustion. Regina falls on top of me and I wrap my arms around her as she cries into my neck. I kiss her cheek and sit up with her still in my arms. “Did you get through to the police?” She asks. 

“No. It’s all fake.” I tell her. “Gold answered the phone.” 

“Fuck.” Regina groans getting up from the floor and kicking the door. “What the fuck do they want.” 

I grab Regina and pull her away from the door. “Listen it’s going to be light soon and they’re going to want this over. So we need something, scissors anything. What about your apple knife?”

“I left it in the car.” She huffs before looking through the draws. 

I check every draw in the room but there’s absolutely nothing, they’ve thought of everything. I go into the bathroom to check and find those draws empty too. “Fuck.” I try to catch my breath and lean on the sink while looking up at myself in the mirror…the mirror. I whip my shirt off, leaving my just in my vest top and wrap it around my hand. 

“What are you doing?” Regina asks.

“Stand back.” I tell her before sending my fist into the mirror. Some of it shatters off but not enough for a weapon so I punch it a couple more times before I get a good few shards. I rip some fabric off my shirt and wrap it around the bottoms of two if the shards of glass in the sink. “Take this.” I tell Regina and hand her one. “Any of them come near you and you just go crazy with this thing.” I says. “Stab any part of them you can reach.” 

“Okay.” Regina nods and takes it from me.

I pull Regina with me back to the room and sit us in the corner of the room where I have a good view of the door. Now we wait.

.  
.

“Emma?” I hear Regina mumble. I look over my shoulder to see my wife waking up. “You let me fall asleep.” She says trying to get up. 

“No.” I dive over to her and keep her on the floor. “You need to stay there.” 

Regina looks at me confused. “Why?” 

“I need to let them see you.” I tell her. 

“What?”

I nod to the vent that is facing us and then towards the others around the room that I’ve covered up. “I don’t want them to see what I’m doing but if they can see you then they know we’re not trying to leave.” I whispers while brushing some hair from her face. 

Regina nods and sits back down in the corner. “What are you doing?” She asks nodding towards the TV. 

“I’m going over the tapes. Trying to see if they can give me any clues.” I say while fast forwarding the tape of the couple from earlier. “They have cameras everywhere, inside, outside and they edit them all together into a little move. I think this is what Gold was watching in his office when we arrived. They make their very own snuff films.” 

“Jesus Christ.” Regina groans gripping onto her stomach. “What have you found?”

“These people are enjoying it. They like the game, they like smart people and then when they get bored then come in whenever they want. I think that’s why they’re leaving us alone, because we’re giving them a fun challenge…but they can come in whenever they want.” 

“How are they getting in? How did my apple appear because they didn’t come through the front door.” She asks. 

I get the tape to a certain point and pause it for her. “I can’t be sure but with everything I’ve gone over it looks like they’re coming in from the bathroom.” 

Regina looks over her shoulder with wide eyes. “How?” She whispers.

“I don’t know, but they all appear from there.” I say while walking towards it. “Stay right there.” I enter the bathroom and instantly spot a vent just above the shower. I know I can’t do what I need to with them watching so I jump up onto the side of the bathtub and raise the curtain a bit more. When I jump down I feel the floor under me move and hear it squeak. 

“Emma?” Regina whispers. 

“It’s okay.” I call back before pulling the shower mat off the floor and revealing a trap door. Holy fuck. I crouch down and lift the door to see what looks like a tunnel. 

“Emma.” Regina calls out. “There’s lights outside.” 

I hop up from the floor and head into the room. “What?”

“I think someone is here.” She says pointing to the window. We both head over, pull back the curtains to see a truck pulling up outside the office. “Come on.” Regina says and being to walk to the door. 

“Wait.” I tell her and clamp down on her wrist. “We don’t know who it is.”

“It’s our ride out of this hellhole.” 

“Yeah in case he’s with one of them. Why’s he here so late?” I say trying to calm down enough to think clearly. This could actually be our way home.

“Maybe he’s a long-haul driver, looking to get some sleep before carrying on.” Regina says as he jumps out his truck and walks around the front. “He doesn’t look like one of them Em.” She says before banging on our window. “HELP US.” She shouts. 

I join in on the banging and soon we get is attention. The guy begins to slowly walk over to us as we slam out hands into the glass. “PLEASE HELP.”

“HELP US.”

As the man gets closer to our room I see the two masked men appear from behind his truck and walk towards him. “BEHIND YOU.” I point while Regina bangs on the glass. “RUN…TURN AROUND.” He comes to a stop and the two guys get closer.

“BEHIND YOU.” Regina screams and points. 

Just as the two men reach hold Gold pops up with a box and greets him with a smile. I cant hear what they’re saying but when the guy opens the box I can clearly see it’s filled with videos. “That sick fuck.” I slam my palm against the window and watch as the two masked men walk past them both and head straight towards us. 

“Oh god.” Regina whimpers. 

“Come on babe.” I grab her hand and pull her towards the bathroom. “Get down there.”

“What the hell is that?” She asks.

“Just go.” 

I watch as Regina climbs down and I hop down myself and rest the shower mat against the top of the door before closing it, hopefully they think we don’t know about this for now, even if it’s for a few minutes it’s something. “What the hell is this?” She asks.

“A way out.” I tell her looking down the dark tunnel that is only lit by a few lanterns on the wall.

“We don’t even know what’s at the other end of this.”

“We don’t have a choice.” I say. “They’ve given us enough time. Gina we have to do this okay, just follow me.” I begin to crawl down the tunnel, listening out for any footsteps above me to help me figure out where they are, but to be honest all I can hear is my heart beating out of my chest. 

“Emma.” 

“It’s okay…keep going.” We come to a T junction, but I decide to keep going. I think as far away as possible is the best option. Some of the mud comes down, making me panic for a second that the whole thing would come down on us. “We’re almost there Gina.” I tell her wanting to put her mind at ease.

“Can you see the end?” She asks

“I think so. Just a bit farther.”

“I swear to god when we get out if this I’m never leaving the city.” She huffs. “You’re parents can come to us from now on.” 

“Deal.” I nod. Hearing her say that lights a fire in my belly. This is what I’m fighting for. I’m fighting to get the love of my life home and safe. After a couple more minutes of crawling through the tunnels we comes to the end. “Hold up.” I tell Regina while getting onto my knees and slowly lifting the hatch door. I look around and see we’ve ended up in some kind of back room. I hop up before offering my hand to Regina. 

“Where the hell are we?” She whispers looking at the rows and rows of video tapes. 

“Looks like Golds office.” I say while watching the TV’s. A couple of them have some of the torture videos on them while the rest seem to be CCTV of the entire motel. I stare at the hundreds of video tapes and feel sick. How long have these fuckers been doing this. 

“Let’s look for a phone.” Regina says pulling my away from the TV’s and into his personal area. I look under all the junk in his room as quietly as I can looking for a phone but also a better weapon, this shard of glass isn’t going to get me very far against three people. “I found it.” Regina says while shoving a stack of papers aside. She dials 911 and I pray this one is actually real.

_“911 emergency.”_ A womans voice comes over the line and I almost sob with relief. 

“Help please they’re trying to kill us.” Gina pants. 

_“I need your name and location Miss.”_

“We’re at the Storybr…” The front office bell goes off signalling that they’re here and I yank Regina off the phone and get us both back in the tunnel just as his office door flies open.

“Go Gina, now, go, go.” I whisper. We both take off back down the tunnels as fast as we can. This time I tell Regina to take different turns in case they come down here after us. I’m sure I hear the sound of one of the doors being slammed open, but I try to ignore that. “Take this right.” I tell Regina.

“This is the end.” She whispers. 

“Okay.” I slide past her and lift open the trap door. I hop up and see Regina staring down the tunnel. “Gina?”

“What if they’re up there.”

“They’re not. Come on.” I reach down, grab her by the arms and lift her from the tunnel before slamming it shut. I look around and see we’ve ended up in the garage. “Help me with this.” We drag over a large tool chest and put it on top of the trap door. 

“They’ll find us in here.” Regina says sliding down the wall.

“We can’t run yet. We have to let them think we ran, then we can escape.” 

“And what if they look in here.”

“I don’t know Regina.” I growl. “I’m doing my best here. I don’t have the playbook on how to escape psychopaths that was to kill me and film it.” Regina turns away from me and I instantly feel guilty when I see her shoulders shake as she cries. I crawl across the floor towards her and bring her close to me. “I’m sorry.” I whisper against the side of her head before kissing it.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbles against my neck. 

I shake my head. “You don’t have to apologies for being scared. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” 

“Not for that.” She says looking up at me. “For the way I’ve acted this this past year. For us and for snapping at you about Henry.” 

“You don’t have to apologies. You were grieving about our boy.” I say holding her tighter against me.

“So were you.” She sniffs as tears fall down her face. “We both lost him Emma. I should’ve been there for you and I’m so sorry that I wasn’t.” 

“It’s okay, it’s all okay.” I say to her. “Listen to me…we’re going to get out of this. Then we’ll go home and do everything we should’ve done for each other this past year, and then we start over, we’ll be happy because nothing is more perfect in this world than your smile Regina. I’m going to get us out of this so we can grow old and ugly together.” Regina nods before bringing me in for a kiss. The first kiss we’ve had in a long time. I enjoy the feeling of my wife’s lips on mine for a minute before pulling back and resting my head against hers. “If I knew all I needed was a few psychos to get you to kiss me I would’ve brought us here a long time ago.” I tease. 

“Shut it Miss Swan.” She laughs while slapping me on the stomach. 

“Mrs Swan.”

Regina nods and gives me a quick peck. “Mrs Swan.” 

“Okay, now we need a plan.” I say looking around the room. 

“Maybe they think we’ve gone. We could sneak into the woods.” Regina suggests. 

I untangle my arms from her and turn to look back out the window. “I’m not sure if we’ve left it long enough. What if…” Suddenly the large chest blocking the trap door gets pushed up. “Shit.” I dive on top of it to add my weight. “We need to go.” I groan while pushing back against him.

“To where?” Regina asks looking out the window. 

“One of the rooms, we can figure out a plan then. Get ready to open that door.” Regina goes to the door and unlocks it. I give the chest one last push before grabbing Regina and getting the hell out of there. 

We run around the garage and back towards the motel where Gold is stood just outside his office with the other masked man by his side. “There you are Mrs Swan.” He grins. “We’ve been looking for you. Finish this.” He tells the man who comes running after us. 

We enter one of the many hotel rooms and slam the door behind us just as the man get there. He tries to get the door open again but I hold it shut and put the latch on. “Come on.” I walk to the adjacent room door and kick it open before closing it behind us. 

“They’re still coming.” Regina says running behind me. 

I run through a couple more rooms while opening the front doors in both of them, trying to put any seed of doubt in their heads before coming to a stop in the fourth one. “This will do.” I nod. I pull Regina in and place the chest of draws in front of the door. I run into the bathroom, grab the shower railing and smash open the window. 

“We won’t fit Emma.” Regina says.

“It’s for show.” I tell her while going back to the room and looking out the window. I see the two men talking to each other and pointing towards the far end of the motel, we’ve confused them slightly. “I need to get to the office, grab the gun from above the door.” 

“Does it even work?” Regina asks. 

“I need to try.” I shrug. “It’s the only way we’ll get out of here.” I look around the room for somewhere to hide Regina when I notice an attic hatch on the roof. I drag the bedside table over, pop the door and check to see if I she’ll be safe up here. “This is good.” I nod. “Come here.”

“What?” She asks as I walk over to her. 

“We’ll leave them a trail.” I grab the bottom of her top and rip a piece off before heading to the bathroom and attaching it to a piece of the broken window. 

“Emma what is going on?”

I walk back into the room and pull her up onto the table with me. “They’ll think you made it out. No way they’d check up here. Come on.” I try to lift her, but she pushes me off. 

“What about you.” She asks.

“I’m going to go after the gun and call for help.” 

“Emma, no.” She whimpers gripping onto my cheek. “It’s too dangerous alone.” 

“I’ll be fine, all I need to know is you’re safe.” I say pulling her hands of my cheeks and kissing her palms. “You stay up here and wait for me. Do not come down and do not make a sound, no matter what. Promise me.” 

“Emma…” She cries. 

“Promise me.”

The tears are now freely flowing down her face as she nods. “I promise.” Regina nods before bringing me in for a kiss. “I love you so much.” She mumbles against my mouth before kissing me again.

“I love you too. Now let’s go.” I grip onto her hips and lift her as she jumps. I push her feet up and feel some stress relief when I see her up there and safe. “Close it.” I tell her. Regina lets out a small cry as she puts the attic door back in place. I slide the bed side table back and brush my foot against the carpet to remove any drag marks.

“Emma.” I hear Regina whisper. 

I look up and smile. “I love you.” I whisper before turning to the front door. 

I rub the tiredness from my eyes and take a deep breath. Come on Swan, one last push. I reach for the handle and slowly turn it, trying to make as little sound as possible. I open the door and look to my left to see if Gold is still watching but nothing. As I turn to my right one of my men appear and I feel a horrific sharp pain in my stomach. “Ugh.” I look down and see his blade sticking out of me and blood covering my white top. No, no. 

“Fucking bitch.” He laughs before shoving me to the floor. 

I fall back and instantly feel lightheaded with the pain of my gut ripping through me. I try to crawl out the room, but a cane stops me. I turn onto my back and see Gold stood above me with a camera. “Smile dearie.” He grins. I want to push myself up and fight, but all too soon I can feel myself slipping away. 

.  
.

**RPOV:**

Emma looks up at me with a smile and whispers I love you before turning towards the door. I hear her let out a deep sigh before opening it and stepping outside, but before she can take one step one of those men jumps in front of her. Emma falls back and only then do I see the blood covering her shirt. I cry out against my hand as my wife crumbles on the floor in pain. Oh god Emma, please don’t take her too. I watch as she drags herself outside and soon I can hear Gold talking to her. 

“Let’s get her and wrap this up.” He says as the three of them step over Emma and into the room.

“Where is she?” I hear one of the men with an English accent ask as he looks under the bed. 

Gold heads into the bathroom. “Find her Neal.” I hear him tell them before the pair of them run out the room. Emma was right. I hear Gold cane as he exits the bathroom, he looks around the room before leaving. 

When I know they’ve all gone I collapse onto my back and finally cry out. Not Emma, please no. I can’t lose her too. My chest aches as her smiling face flashes through my head. How has this happened. I feel my breathing come to fast for me to catch and before I know it I’m draped in darkness. 

“Ah.” I groan moving my face away from the light that’s shining onto my face. I hear a bird squawking above me, pulling me from my sleep. Oh god. I had a panic attack and passed out after Emma was…I feel a bile rise in my throat when I think about what happened. I need to get out of here. I roll off my back and look through the roof cracks to see my Emma still laying on the floor but no sign of anyone else, good enough for me. I gently lift the hatch door, drop myself down onto the floor and crawl towards my wife. 

Just as I reach her I hear a floorboard creak behind me. I look over my shoulder to see one of the men stood there. “Hello love.” 

I bolt up from the floor and sprint down the parking lot with him behind me. I look for somewhere to go and now with the light I can see a car hidden behind some trees and a shed, so I make a beeline for it. By some grace of God the keys are on the seat next to me, but as soon as I start up the car the buy jumps on and throws half of his body into the sunroof. “Get off.” I scream pushing his hand off me and pressing down on the gas.

“Stop the car you bitch.” He growls trying to grab the wheel. I push him away and try to steer the car off onto the main road. 

We both fight for it as we swerve around the motel lot, both of us clawing at each other. “Fuck off.” I shout getting a good punch in, but it causes him to turn the wheel into the direction of the motel. I try to steer away but I see the other man run out of a room, so instead I head straight for him. 

“NO.” He screams just before I hit him with the car, and we go smashing through the motel room. 

My head smashes off the steering wheel as we go crashing into the back wall. Ahh fuck, my head. I cough as the dust settles and I look around me. The guy the sunroof is now dripping blood everywhere with his neck at a funny angle, while the second one is pinned between the car and the wall. I stumble out and watch as he bangs his fist against the car in agony. “Help me.” He begs. I back away from the man, not seeing someone in need of help but someone who killed my wife. He chokes on his blood for a moment before falling face first onto the hood of the car. I begin to inch forward to see if they have anything on them but before I can I hear Gold shouting and trying to get through one of the doors. 

“NEAL? KILLIAN.” He shouts. “TALK TO ME.” 

I back out of the rooms and go sprinting towards the office. I enter Golds back room and head straight for the phone but find the plug in the back gone. “Fuck.” I bang the phone back down. Now what. Just as I being to look around his office I hear that fucking bell sound again. I grab a hammer and make my way towards the door but Golds not here. As I look around the reception I see there’s still one gun above the door. I put the hammer down, hop onto the table and reach up for the gun. Just as my fingers wrap around the handle I feel something crack against my back. “Ahh.” I fall back, drop the gun and see Gold looking down at me.

“You ruined everything.” He shouts before bringing the large head of his cane down onto my ribs. “You killed my boys.” He shouts again, this time striking me across the face, making me dizzy again. “Well you will pay.” Gold grabs me by the hair and drags me into the back room. 

“Shit.” I cough feeling my ribs burn and my head ache. 

“Shut up.” He hisses cracking the cane down on my head again. “Now look at me.” Gold puts his foot on my chest and focuses his camera on me

“Fuck you.” I groan.

“Fuck me.” He laughs madly before pressing his boot down into my chest, taking my breath away. “I should’ve killed you right away last night. Get your face up.” 

“No.” I move my head away. 

He leans down and slaps me across the face. “Get your face up.” Gold demands. “Get your face up and look at me.” He says gripping my chin. 

“FUCK YOU.” I scream before pulling my foot up and kick out against his groin. Gold falls down on top of me and I push him off before trying to break for the door. He catches my foot sending me to the ground. 

“Shit.” I hiss when I land of my ribs. 

“You fucking bitch.” Gold growls while pulling himself up and hobbling towards me. I run to the reception and dive over the desk to find the gun. “Come now dearie…don’t make this any worse than it needs to be.” I grab the gun just as Gold comes around the desk, I spin around and face him with the gun raised. “Easy now, don’t do any…” I don’t let him finish before I’m firing three shots into his chest. Gold stares at me with wide eyes before falling to the ground.

“Oh god.” I finally take a breath and look at the dead man laying at my feet. How has this happened. I look over at Gold and see the phone wire sticking out of his pocket. I rip it from him and attach it back to the phone and call for some help. 

_“911 emergency.”_ A man says

“I need some help sent to the Storybrooke motel. Some men tried to kill me and stabbed my wife, please help.”

_“What’s the address Miss?”_

“I don’t know please, it’s the Storybrooke motel up in the mountains. Please send help. There’s so much blood.” I cough.

_“Okay Miss we’re sending help, hold on.”_

“Thank you.” I sob with relief. I put the phone down and leave the office. Limping over to where they left Emma. I slide down to the floor and brush her hair from her face. “I’m so sorry baby.” I cry kissing her cheek. 

“Gina?” Emma mumbles.

“Oh my god…Emma?” I cry pulling back to see her crack her eyes slightly. 

“Gina.” She groans in pain.

“Hold on baby, helps coming okay.” I say pulling her against me. “You just hold on for me, hold on.” I kiss the side of her head and hold her tightly within all this carnage while we wait for help to finally arrive. 

.  
.

“And that my little angel is how your mummy saved the day.” 

“Emma.” I huff watching my wife talk to our 3-month old to sleep. “You really need to stop telling her that story. 

“But she loves hearing about how her mummy is a hero.” Emma pouts.

I walk into our daughters nursery, taker her from Emma’s arms and put Sophie in her crib for her afternoon nap. “Soph is a baby, she has absolutely no idea what your saying…but if she does I don’t want these stories to be what she’s soaking up.” I say looking down at our sleeping angel.

“You prefer the classics?” Emma asks wrapping her arms around me from behind. 

“Yes.” I nod letting her kiss my neck.

“Yeah because they’re not weird at all. The girl kept as a slave in an attic, or the boy that almost get eaten by a giant, or the guy that gets his hand bitten off by a crocodile, or…”

“I get your point.” I sigh pulling away from her.

“Or the evil Queen that tries to kill a girl with an apple.” She continues with a smirk. “I’m just saying fairy tales aren’t exactly child friendly. Emma shrugs looking all pleased with herself. 

“So you think telling her about her mother’s almost being tortured to death is better?” I scoff leaving our daughters room before Emma gets too loud. 

“It’s a survival story.” Emma huffs. “Everyone loves them. And I’m just letting her know what went down early. She’s bound to ask where you sexy scars came from at some point.” She winks while running her finger along the scar that Gold’s cane left. 

“Sexy huh?” I ask backing up towards the stairs. 

“Very sexy.” She says biting her lip.

“Grab the baby monitor and then you can show me how sexy.” I wink before sprinting up the stairs.


End file.
